A Shocking Proposition Read Free Page B

Reluctantly, rebellion
pounding in every pulse of his blood, he obeyed its dictates and straightened,
releasing her.
    In the real world the earth and sky were, to his surprise,
still in their proper relation, the one to the other. Somewhere a rook cawed
lazily, a dog barked and the wind whipped at them. Nothing had changed. Except
Maddy Kirkby was staring at him, green eyes wide, and her lips, that had
sometime in the past several years become shockingly lush, slightly parted.
    “You had better go,” he said, rather more roughly than he
liked. But God help him if she continued to look at him like that. Her parted
lips were giving him ideas. Ideas a gentleman who had taken self-righteous
exception to another man’s behavior, was a complete hypocrite to be
entertaining.
    Her mouth closed and color flared in her cheeks, her chin
lifting, as she gathered up the ribbons and set her mare in motion. Her eyes
flashed a challenge. “I am not a toy for your amusement, Ash Ravensfell,” she
said quietly. The mare’s breath huffed out on the cold air and they were
trotting away up the lane.
    He watched, even after the gig rounded the first bend, still
able to see Maddy, spear straight, until she crested the rise and was gone.

Chapter Two
    The horse , he was fairly sure it was his , although it was not in the least familiar , picked its steady way along a ridge. Despite the drifting mists , he knew precisely where he was—on Haydon land near Hadrian’s Wall. Somewhere in the whiteness ahead , he could hear the sound of stone scraping , tools being used on the Wall. He tried to push the horse faster , knowing that some vandal was dismantling part of the Wall for building stone , but the horse ignored his efforts. Wind swirled down out of the north , and on the Wall just ahead of him a figure became visible...a woman in a dark cloak , tawny hair tumbling about her shoulders in wild disarray , and witch-green eyes. Waiting for him. She held out her hand , either beseeching his aid , or offering her own. He tried to speak , but the Wall trembled and fell , and she was gone with it into the mist. ...
    Ash woke to the sound of his curtains being drawn back and lay quietly. A better dream than most he’d had in the past eighteen months. At least he thought it was, already it was fading.... Had he really dreamed that Maddy Kirkby had been standing on Hadrian’s Wall begging him for help? Or had she been going to help him?
    * * *
    Ash looked disinterestedly at the solitary, unopened letter beside his breakfast plate and addressed himself halfheartedly to the very excellent ham and eggs on his plate. Opposite him his much elder half brother Gerald, Duke of Thirlmere, was going through his personal correspondence while munching toast and marmalade. Occasionally the ducal brows rose. Twice he snorted out a laugh and read something aloud to his duchess, Helen.
    The duchess, glancing up from her own letters, smiled affectionately at her husband over the rim of her teacup. Both duke and duchess cast furtive glances at Ash.
    He tried very hard not to notice and even harder not to grit his teeth. He knew they loved him, but he did wish they would stop worrying about him. But how did you explain to your brother, who was more like a father to you, and had never been anywhere near a battlefield in his life, and his even more sheltered wife, that there was nothing wrong? Nothing that complete loss of memory wouldn’t fix. At least he was sleeping better and the dreams, dreams that had woken him screaming, and in a cold sweat of fear, weren’t as frequent. In fact, he hadn’t had one for a couple of months. Although, he couldn’t say that he entirely liked the turn his dreams had taken last night. If he had dreamed about Maddy Kirkby. He wasn’t too sure now. Perhaps he had. He’d certainly spent enough time on the journey home yesterday thinking about her. Wondering if the rest of that milky, pale skin was as sweet and silken as her wrist? Or